Just a Game Parts 1 & 2
by PhoenixRae
Summary: FINISHED It started out as just a game of charades. They’d show up in school for their final year at Hogwarts as a couple... PLS R
1. Part I: Their Night

**Summary:** _It started out as just a game of charades. They'd show up in school for their final year at Hogwarts as a couple. She wanted to show her friends that she was more than just a bookworm and who would be better to help her out than the one boy in school she knew her friends hated with a passion? Little did they know that tempting fate was far too dangerous than playing with exploding snap cards._

**Disclaimer:** Unfortunately none of the Harry Potter characters are mine. I just borrowed them from JK Rowling. But the plot idea was mine so don't sue me for that!!! 

**PhoenixRae's Notes:** This is the first part of my **Just a Game** trilogy that I'm writing. Hope you like this one. I don't know _where_ I got the idea from, all I know is that I wanted to write so here's the first part. ENJOY! 

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I.** **Their Night **

In the dead of the night two bodies moved as one. Thrusting; receiving; opening. Moans of undulated desire hushed by the silencing charm cast in the empty classroom. Their coming together was inevitable; they'd been dancing around the issue for months—even _years_ if they thought hard about it, but neither one of them acted on that building attraction they had for one another. It was just a game after all. A game neither of them took seriously, until fate intervened and made them realize they were already in too deep in the game to ignore the hazards their so-called meaningless flirtation could cause.

A pair of slender, silky smooth legs wrapped around a perfectly trimmed torso, just adding enough pressure to urge him to bury himself deeper into her moist crevice. Their mingled moans echoed around the room. Seven years of repressed attraction and finally they've come together.

Tonight was their night to become one

Tonight was their _only_ night to be as one.

By daylight they would retreat to that cold comfort they'd built for themselves. Their masks would be put back on and none of what transpired between them on this very eve would be visible. They'd be back to playing the game they easily agreed on at the end of the previous school year.

They agreed to this game of charade to throw her friends off. They'd been ignoring her for the past few years and she has had enough of it. She wanted them to see that was human too, with feelings and yearnings. They thought she was just the typical bookworm who often buried her nose in books and studied day and night, three hundred and sixty-five days a year. But they were wrong. They were so very wrong.

He sensed her feeling of detachment when he found her all by herself in one of the train compartments minus her two bodyguards. She was looking out the window and was lost. He didn't want to intrude; he should've left her alone that day, but something else inside him made him stay and sat across from her in the compartment.

"I wonder what could a filthy mudblood like you could be thinking about," he mused, crossing his leg over the other and slouched down in his seat.

She tore her chocolate brown eyes from the passing scenery outside and glared at him, "What do you want, ferret boy?"

"What makes you think I want something from _you_, mudblood?" he taunted.

She raised an eyebrow. "The day you'd want something from _me_ would be the day I keeled over and died," she deadpanned.

He chuckled and made himself even more comfortable in his seat, his grey eyes held her brown ones. He raised an eyebrow and shook his mop of platinum blond hair slicked neatly back and pressed against his scalp. It was his trademark hairstyle that she didn't approve of, but the rest of the student population at Hogwarts seemed to like it on him.

"You're a feisty one, aren't you?" he mocked. "I never pegged you to be feisty. I always thought it was the youngest weasel who was feisty."

"Maybe she rubbed off on me," she snapped, sitting back in her seat and crossing her arms over her chest. "What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be harassing somebody else?"

"Nobody to harass anymore," he replied flippantly and with a slight shrug of his shoulder.

She didn't believe that. She knew he'd find someone to harass one way or the other.

"Whatever," she rolled her eyes skyward and looked out the window again. She thought he'd leave her alone then, but she was wrong.

He remained in the compartment with her. The silence that stood between them was deafening, and she didn't like to be watched!

"You better look somewhere else, Malfoy, before I poke your eyes out," she threatened when she could no longer stand his silent scrutiny of her.

"You've changed, Granger," he noted.

She raised an eyebrow. Did he just give her some sort of backhanded compliment?

"You must be hallucinating, Malfoy," she shoved his compliment—or comment, whichever—aside and continued looking at the passing scenery.

"If I am then it must be a helluva good hallucination because for the first time in six years you managed to tame that ruckus you called hair," he scoffed.

"If you're trying to get a rise out of me, Malfoy, you're just wasting your time _and_ breath," she warned him lazily. "I'm already immune to your insults," she tore her gaze from the view outside the window and met his gaze. "You need to find somebody else to torment and insult."

"Whoa, Granger, why the bitchy remarks and nasty attitude? PMS-ing again?"

"And _what_ would you now about PMS, hm?"

"I've been around girls _a lot_ to know what they're like when their period's about to make an appearance," he answered unperturbed.

"And just because I'm bitchy and crabby you already assumed that _I'm_ having PMS?" she questioned.

"Isn't that obvious?" he challenged.

"Can't a person just be plain ol' bitchy _and_ crabby without having to be suffering from PMS?"

"Oh come off it, Granger! You're having PMS and you damn well know it!" he insisted.

"Then I'm on a permanent PMS ride then because I'm always bitchy and crabby," she answered haughtily.

He raised an eyebrow. That was an unusual side of her that he witnessed. Normally she'd be storming out of the room by then and never looked back, but she remained where she was butting-heads with him. He knew then that something was wrong. In as much as he was impressed that she finally grew a pair, he was also intrigued as to _why_ her two comrades have yet to make an appearance.

"Where's Potty and Weasel? Shouldn't they be joining you by now?" he asked, his grey eyes darting between the girl before him and the open door.

"They're too busy living _and_ having a life of their own to remember that I'm still alive," she replied tartly.

"Am I sensing trouble in paradise, hm?" he looked bemused. Did the trio have a fight and Granger was ganged-up upon by Potter and Weasley?

"Shut-up, Malfoy."

"I see," he nodded, a sly grin hovering on his lips. "The Amazing Trio's legacy finally coming to an end, eh?" he mocked.

"Shut-_up!_" she hissed.

He struck a raw nerve. He chuckled triumphantly and uncrossed his legs. He leant forward, resting his elbows on his knees.

"You know, Granger, I wouldn't feel sorry for myself if I were in _you_ position."

She chose to ignore him. Averting her gaze she concentrated on the view outside the window once again, but he wouldn't take the hint. He went on egging her, ridiculing her rapidly decapitating relationship with Harry Potter and Ron Weasley, and making snide remarks about the two's absence. Finally she has had enough and told him to shut it or she'd pull his tongue out and shove it up where the sun doesn't shine.

He had to admit he was shocked to hear those words slip out of her of luscious lips. Hell, he didn't even realize he found her lips lusciously captivating until then! She had fire in her, a fire that when stoked, would burst into bright flames and shock the whole world.

He became to her what he told himself he'd _never_ do to the likes of _her._

He became her friend.

He knew she was seething with unspoken anger. She was frustrated and needed to vent. He was bored and needed some entertainment—or so he thought. In the end he found himself concocting a plan with a _mudblood_ on how to get back on two of his mortal nemesis.

That had been made a year ago to the day, and by tomorrow it would all be over.

One year of pretence. A whole year of seeing nobody else but each other. A full year of driving Harry Potter and Ron Weasley insane because one of the most _plain_ girls in Gryffindor house turned out to be a magnificent swan. He became the envy of most guys in school. He was loathed by his housemates. His father nearly disowned him, but there was nothing more that Lucius Malfoy could do. He was his own man and he could make any girl from here to Timbuktu his woman.

It was suppose to be _just_ pretence—nothing serious, nothing candid—just one hundred percent _pure_ pretence. Little did he know that sometime during the middle of the year that he'd fall for her; and she didn't bet on falling for him too.

Now they were locked in an empty classroom in the dead of the night, moaning and loving one another like there was no tomorrow. And there wasn't going to be _any_ tomorrow for them. They would only have this night to have and to hold one another; to love and promise unspoken promises that would never leave this quiet, empty room.

He began moving against her, slamming his body harder and harder into her. Picking up the pace, he started to move faster, their hitched breaths mingled and echoed. He laced his fingers with hers, pulling her arm up over her head and urging her to look at him.

Their eyes met and locked. Brown and Grey. Both filled with love, but no words of love were spoken. And he kept on moving in and out of her, thrusting himself to the hilt before pulling out to do it all over again. Her legs around his torso tightened, her fingers intertwined with his crushed his.

The words were forming in their minds. Their mouths slightly opened, ready to spill their hearts desire, but before neither one of them could utter those three words out loud, he swooped his head down and captured her lips in a mouth-crushing kiss, silencing both their scream as their climaxed surged through their bodies.

Half spent and half exhilarated, he fell on top of her, burying his face between her shoulder blades. Their rugged breathing blended until they began breathing as one.

A few seconds had passed before he rolled off her. He spread his arms wide and she rolled into his open arms. He closed his grey eyes in agony as his arm automatically wrapped around the small, delicate body of the woman he just loved and would continue on loving even after this night was.

She rested her head on his chest. She heard the uneven beating of his heart. Taking a deep breath she placed her hand, palm down, on his chest where she knew his heart lay. What they just had…what she just experienced…it was beyond what she expected.

_Just a game…_the phrase formed a foul taste in her mouth. It was never _just a game_ between them. Not anymore, anyway. Since that day on the train twelve months ago, when he stepped in to the compartment she grabbed for herself because her two so-called best friends ditched her, she knew their lives would never be the same—_ever._

When he offered her his assistance at showing Harry and Ron what they were missing, she didn't bother thinking twice about it. She thought it would be a brilliant idea of a Slytherin—her two best friend's _loathed_ Slytherin—helped her garner some attention, never did it enter her mind that she would be playing with her heart on the line as well.

In the dead of the night two bodies merged as one. Both lost in their own thoughts. Both wanting more and yet were too afraid to voice it out. In the dead of the night an unspoken word of love was uttered, but none were heard. In the dead of the night two bodies clung to one another with all their might, savouring the remaining few hours before they part for the last time and never to see each other ever again…

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**~*~ End ~*~ **

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**A/N:** Please review & let me know what you think. Thanks!


	2. Part II: Chance Encounter

**Summary:** _It started out as just a game of charades. They'd show up in school for their final year at Hogwarts as a couple. They shared one night together during their final year and never saw each other since. Now five years later their paths crossed once again, but she was no longer free…_

**Disclaimer:** Unfortunately none of the Harry Potter characters are mine. I just borrowed them from JK Rowling. But the plot idea was mine so don't sue me for that!!! 

**PhoenixRae's Notes:** This is the second part of my **Just a Game** trilogy that I'm writing. I hope you enjoyed the first part. I wanted to make this a chaptered story, but I just couldn't seem to get myself to do it so I made it one-shot fics. Hope you enjoyed it. 

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II.** **Chance Encounter**

Shopping in Diagon Alley had always been a favourite of hers. She remembered back during her days of attending Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, she'd spend countless hours going in and out of each store just browsing through the displays. She'd occasionally buy a little something that caught her fancy, but most of the time she'd just browse.

On this particular mid-August day, she was back at Diagon Alley accompanying her future nieces and nephew as they dragged their parents along with them. All of their faces alight with undeniable glee. Two out of the fourteen children with them are starting their first year at Hogwarts and one out of the fourteen will be graduating this year. She along with her future sister-in-law, Ginny who was engaged to her other best friend, Harry Potter, were being dragged from store to store by the children. They divided themselves up evenly and she was stuck with the two newbies while Ginny was stuck with their graduating niece.

The parents left the children under the two soon-to-be married women while they enjoyed a nice cup or two of cold drink at the Leaky Cauldron. She and Ginny complained that the others were being unfair, but the children spoke up and they all agreed that they only wanted their 'Auntie Ginny' and 'Auntie Hermione' to accompany them while they shopped.

"Think of it as a crash-course to motherhood for you two," winked Angelina Johnson-Weasley, Fred's wife.

Ginny made a face at her sister-in-law and looked helplessly at her fiancé, but Harry was no help at all. He held up his hands and backed away, leaving her to take care of her nieces and nephews.

"Some fiancé you are," she muttered and held William's hand, Percy's youngest offspring, tightly. Ginny turned to her partner in crime and with one final look, they set off in separate directions to look shop for the things the children needed (the younger ones were dragging themselves along get some treats for later, when their aunties and older siblings were done shopping).

"We'll see you back here around two," Hermione called over her shoulder.

"Don't spoil our kids too much!" Penelope Clearwater-Weasley called teasingly after Hermione set-off with two of her three children with her.

"Aw, _Mum!_" whined seven-year-old Troy, Percy and Penelope's eldest.

"That's what aunties are for—to spoil us kids rotten!" grinned Penelope's five-year-old son Sasha.

"I know they are, sweetcakes, but sometimes it's not good to ask too much from your aunties," Alicia Spinnet-Weasley reminded her nephew sweetly.

Sasha pouted. Hermione laughed and tugged on his and Talisa's, Fred's other twin offspring, hands.

"Don't worry kiddos. Auntie Hermione _doesn't_ listen to what your parents says," she told her two youngest charges conspiringly. Sasha and Talisa's face lit up and couldn't help themselves from giggling. Hermione had a bright smile plastered on her face and when she straightened up, she met the disapproving looks the two children's parents were giving her. "What?" she asked innocently, but her face with as bright as the blazing ball of fire outside.

Hermione first led the four Hogwarts students (two returning and two entering) towards Flourish and Blotts to pick-up their books. The fifth years and third years had so much books for each of their lessons that Hermione wanted to get it out of the way as soon as they can. Then they were off to the apothecary for some ingredients they might need before heading towards Ollivanders to get Eva (Charlie's youngest) and Aaron (Bill's youngest) their wands.

By this time Troy, Sasha, and Talisa were already getting antsy and Hermione left Gabriel (Charlie's second child) and Agnes (one of Charlie's twin offspring) in to look after Eva and Aaron while she take their cousins outside for a quick walk to Florean Fortescue's Ice-Cream Parlour.

"Yay! Ice cream!" squealed Sasha and Talisa in unison and raced towards the ice cream parlour.

"Hey you two, wait up!" Hermione called and with Troy holding her hand, she ran after her two rambunctious charges. She was in a mad rush to go after the two five-year-olds to pay attention to the oncoming crowd until she ran headlong into someone with washboard chest and stood over six feet tall.

"_Oof!_" she was thrown backwards by the force and would've fallen flat on her rump if it hadn't been for the pair of strong arms that sprung out of nowhere and caught her.

"Are you alright?" asked that familiar voice Hermione hadn't heard from in years.

She stiffened the moment the voice's owner registered in her mind. _Oh God,_ her face paled. It had been over five years since she last saw him and spoken to him, funny how fate decided to intervene at the most inopportune time.

Hermione slowly lifted her head and her chocolate brown eyes locked with the familiar pair of grey eyes she hadn't gazed in to for such a long time. Her mouth slightly parted. She didn't know what to say. It _had_ been five years since they last saw one another. _How_ do you greet your supposed _ex_-boyfriend?

"D-D…Malfoy," she decided to greet him with the utmost civility.

Hermione saw a flash of surprise cross his steel grey eyes before it turned back to its old, unfeeling shade of dull grey.

"Granger," he inclined his head, his blond locks was surprisingly kept short after she complained to him during their seventh year that she _wouldn't_ date any guy with hair longer than hers! She couldn't believe that he kept it short all these years, and his usually platinum blond hair had some other darker shade of blond in it.

Hermione's mind turned into mush. She couldn't think of anything else to say. It had been five years and never a day went by that she didn't think about him nor wondered what had become of him. Now she was standing face-to-face with the same man she lost her virginity to. The years had been good to him from what she was seeing, and from that brief body contact they had, she could safely attest to him working out. He was no longer the small, scraggy boy that he once was back in school. He actually matured and grew; his physical attributes changed as well, and one of those trademark attributes was his platinum blond hair.

Troy looked back and forth between his auntie and the blond stranger then moved his eyes to where his brother and cousin were. Sasha and Talisa already reached the ice cream parlour and were waiting for them to join them. He could sense that not much was going to be said between her auntie and this man so he tugged on Hermione's hand to get her attention.

"Auntie 'Mione, can we go now?" he pleaded.

Draco didn't realize that Hermione was with a child. He looked down at the redheaded boy and frowned. A Weasley. His mop of red hair told him whose parents he belonged to.

"Which one of the Weasley lot is your parent?" he couldn't help himself from asking.

Troy glared up at the stranger and held on to his aunt's hand, "Percy Weasley. And who are _you?_"

Draco chose not to tell the boy who he was. He looked back at Hermione, a devious grin hovering over his lips.

"So, the Amazing Trio are still together _and_ stronger," he mocked.

Hermione glared at him. "The _Amazing Trio_, as you aptly called us, was _never_ broken, Malfoy," she reminded him.

"Oh really?" he raised an eyebrow and eyed her carefully, "I thought there was a time nearly six years ago that the camaraderie between the trio was broken," he prodded.

Hermione jutted her chin into the air, "Close, but you see the bond between those three was far stronger than anybody thought."

"I see that now," he agreed. "Well, I'm staying at the Leaky Cauldron before I leave for France," he paused and held her gaze for the longest time, willing her to break down her barrier and softened to him like she used to five years ago. "If you're interested in reminiscing about the past, stop by and I'll buy you a drink or two," he invited and before she could accept or decline, Draco tipped his head and walked around Hermione and Troy.

Hermione stared after the man she surrendered her body and heart to five years ago. How dare he appeared back into her life out of nowhere and casually invited her for a drink when they had been nothing but strangers to each other?

"Auntie 'Mione, who was that man?" asked Troy whose eyes were still glued on Draco's departing back.

"Just a friend, Troy. Just an _old_ friend," Hermione assured her nephew then pulled him towards the ice cream parlour where Sasha and Talisa were waiting.

~*~*~*~*~*~

_What the hell are you doing here, Mione?_ she asked herself numerous times since she apparated at the Leaky Cauldron that night after leaving the Burrow. Ron, her fiancé, asked where she was going and wanted to come along, but she told him not to since she would be meeting up with an old _muggle_ female friend of hers that she hadn't heard from in a while.

"You'd only be bored, Ron," she told him as she prepared to leave.

"Are you sure?" he pouted. "You know, I want to meet some of your muggle friends too."

"I know, honey, but my friend…well, she's having some problems right now. Maybe next time, alright?" she promised him and with a quick peck on the lips she apparated from the Burrow and to the Leaky Cauldron.

"Miss Granger!" Tom the bartender called out cheerily.

"Good evening, Tom," nodded Hermione and headed towards the bar.

"You're out late tonight, Miss Granger," Tom noted.

Hermione tried not to blush. She grabbed a menu list and pretended to study it.

"I'm…I'm meeting an old friend tonight, Tom," she answered without reeling meeting the bartender's eyes.

"I see," he nodded knowingly. "Well, just let me know what I can get you, alright? Good evening, Mister Malfoy," he greeted to the man standing behind Hermione before the old bartender retreated to the other end of the bar.

"Fancy seeing you here, Granger," came Draco's cool greeting.

Hermione's back snapped straight. She carefully turned and looked at the man who suddenly turned her world upside-down and made her _lie_ to her fiancé and best friend.

"I thought I was invited, so I came," she answered coolly.

He smirked.

"I thought you wouldn't come," he replied and invited himself on the empty seat beside her.

"I thought of not coming," she answered truthfully.

"Then what made you change your mind?" he asked, grabbing himself a menu list and pretended to study the list.

"I don't know," she shrugged, and for the first time since she saw him again she was telling the truth.

Draco ignored the menu list now and turned his attention to the brown haired, brown-eyed girl seated beside him. He took his time in studying her, noting how her hair was no longer a jumbled mass of bush but rather a tamed, elegant, shiny mass of brown curls.

"You aren't you hungry, are you?" he asked.

Hermione tore her gaze from the menu and stared wide-eyed at him. "What do you mean?"

Draco raised an eyebrow. "You just came from the Burrow. I saw you leave with the Weasleys and Potter. I'm sure Mrs. Weasley wouldn't let you leave her place without having dinner," he pointed out.

He got her there.

"You're right. I just came from there," she admitted and set the menu list down.

"I figured as much," he sounded proud of himself. He tapped his fingers on the countertop and waited a couple of minutes before he pushed himself off the barstool and turned the woman beside him, "I'm going to my room. If you want to talk in private, give me five minutes. If not…well, then don't show up," he didn't wait for her to reply and left, dropping a piece of parchment with his room number scribbled on it.

Hermione couldn't believe the gall of the man. He was so sure of himself. It would be fun to prove him wrong once in a while…but she knew in her heart of hearts that she'd be following him in five minutes. Five minutes was the equivalent of the five years that he wasn't present in her life. Five minutes…five minutes…

~*~*~*~*~*~

Hermione smirked. He left the door slightly ajar. He was _that_ sure of her to show up. She took her time approaching his door. After all, he waited five years to materialize back into her life; he could wait another five seconds or so.

She slowly pushed the door open, peering inside and found him seated facing the window.

"You're late," he said without as much as looking over his shoulder at her.

Hermione squared her shoulders and stepped inside, closing the door after her.

"I wasn't sure if I'd show up or not," she replied, pressing her back against the hard wooden door.

Draco got up from his seat and turned around to face her, his grey eyes assessing the young woman who was in the room with him. All of a sudden he had this sudden feeling of déjà vu. They were back at Hogwarts, in the empty classroom they agreed to meet at. All the feelings he felt for her that night came surging back to him; he was feeling them now as he stood there, a mere couple of feet away from the woman he had longed to touch, to have, and to hold for five long years.

"I'm glad you came," he answered truthfully.

Hermione was speechless. The sincerity in his voice melted her defenses.

"I—I'm glad I came too," she admitted.

Silence befell them. It was the kind that made them both feel awkward and unsure of what to do next. Draco stepped away from the chair he pulled at the foot of the bed and gestured for her to sit on the single bunk.

"Thanks," she nodded and crossed the room to where he indicated her to sit. "So…you're going to France?" she figured asking him about where he was going was a safe way to open up a conversation.

"Yeah," he nodded, placing the chair he was using earlier across from where she sat and sat down himself. "I have some family there. Actually I had been living there the past few years."

"Really?"

"Yeah," he nodded.

"What made you come back?"

He didn't answer her right away. His grey eyes were focussed on her, making Hermione feel fidgety under his gaze.

"I was hoping to see you again, Hermione."

"You…what?"

"You heard me. And also I wanted to settle some family business before I moved to France for good," he slouched in his seat and crossed his arms over his chest.

"You were hoping to see me again?" she couldn't believe he just said that. No matter how flippant he acted now, still, the fact remained that he _wanted_ to see her. "Why now?" she asked.

Draco let out an exasperated sigh. He knew she wouldn't drop the subject so easily.

"I heard from a reliable source that you're engaged to Weasley. I guess…I guess I wanted to see my _ex_-girlfriend one last time before she tied the knot," he shrugged.

"See her one last time and then what?"

"I don't know," he crossed his leg over his other knee, blew out a breath and met her gaze. "I can't believe it took you _twelve years_ to realize that you and Weasley were bound to be together," he mocked.

Hermione's cheeks coloured. How could he talk so bluntly about this with her? Didn't their so-called _relationship_ mean anything to him?

"Draco Malfoy, I didn't come here tonight to listen to you _ridicule_ my fiancé!" she answered heatedly.

"Relax, Granger," he put up his hands to fend her off in case she decided to lunge at him. "I'm merely stating a fact here."

"Oh really?"

"Yes, really," he nodded.

"It didn't sound like it to me," she crossed her arms over her chest and jutted her chin to the air.

"Oh come off it, Hermione! How do you expect _me_ to react? I freaked out when I first heard the news. _You_ marrying _Weasley!_" he scoffed. "The _woman_ I love is marrying one of the two men I loathed! You can't just expect me to sit back and do _nothing_ about it!"

Hermione was rendered speechless. Did he just say _love?_ He said the woman he love…Draco loves _her?_

"Draco…you…you love me?" her voice came out as a whisper, her brown eyes nearly bulging out of their sockets as she held his gaze.

"Hell, Mione, you should know."

"No," she shook her head. "No, I don't, Draco. I _didn't_ know that you love me. It was all _just a game_, wasn't it?"

"Hell, Mione, it had been _more than_ just a game. It had been _more_ since that day on the train on our way home for the summer in our sixth year."

"Draco—" but Hermione didn't get to finish what she was about to say. Her words were cut-off when she felt Draco's soft lips crushing hers in a much-anticipated kiss.

It had been so long since he tasted her, felt her quiver under his touch. And now she was back in his arms again. She might be engaged to Weasley now, but she was his first and foremost.

She was his five years ago. And she was going to be his once more. Tonight. Now. To hell with her marrying somebody else. Weasley would have her forever; his only chance of having her was now. A few stolen moments in her arms were all he wanted. He wanted to have more, but it was a union that was never to be.

Hastily they helped each other out of their clothes, pressing bare flesh against bare flesh. Their breathings hard and uneven; she gave and he took; he gave and she took. It was fast. It was furious. It was love that was never meant to be and yet they were here, now, relishing on that forbidden love.

He pushed her gently down on the bed, spreading her legs apart and cradled himself between her thighs. Cradling her face in his hands, he slowly pushed himself into her moist entrance, careful not to hurt her.

Hermione bucked at the size of Draco entering her. It had been so long ago since she last had him cradled between her thighs. He was the same gentle lover she remembered him to be on that long ago night. He knew exactly what she wanted and how to give it. As soon as her body adjusted to him they started to move. It was the same rhythm they mastered that night. Slow and hard. Each thrust meant a promise. Each moan echoed their unspoken desire. Each kiss meant a lifetime of want. And then it was over. They were both riding the wave to oblivion and back.

Draco collapsed on top of the woman he had sworn to love. She was the first, the last, the _only_ woman he'd offer his heart to.

~*~*~*~*~

Hermione watched with a heavy heart the man she had sworn the love sleep peacefully beside her on the small bunk bed inside one of the rooms at the Leaky Cauldron. A quick glance at the bedside clock told her it was already past two in the morning. She practically stayed the whole night with him.

She lazily toyed with a few locks of his blond hair while she was propped sideways on the bed. Moonlight filtered into the room, casting them in its romantic light. They made love countless times throughout the night. Like before they spoke of unspoken promises, cherished every moment that was lent to them, and now she must do the hardest part.

Leave.

This was just a chance encounter, part of their 'just a game' plan that screwed them up for life.

Her life was with Ron now and the Weasleys. Draco Malfoy was nothing but a passing fancy; a seventh year fling that made such an impact on her…or so she kept on telling herself.

With a heavy heart she disentangled herself from the man slumbering peacefully beside her. She moved quietly in the room, picking up her discarded clothing and put them on. She took one last cursory glance of the room to make sure she got everything she needed with her before returning her gaze back on the bed and the man sleeping on it.

She quietly crossed the room and knelt down beside the bunk bed. Reaching out she pushed a lock of his hair away from his forehead. Inside her emotions were raging a war against herself. If she stayed another minute she knew she'd never leave. She leaned forward and gently placed a kiss on his lips.

"I'll love you for the rest of my life, Draco Malfoy," she whispered then apparated.

Draco, who had been pretending to be asleep the whole time Hermione had been puttering around the room, opened his eyes as soon as Hermione left. She missed seeing him shed a tear for her and their love.

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**~*~ End ~*~ **

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**A/N:** Well? What do you guys think? *smiles* Please be kind enough and review to let me know. THANKS!


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